Fighting Hoffa's Blues

Jim Hoffa built a great mountain, His enemies started cavin' in Jim just smiled, and shook his head.

"That's just my teamsters rollin' in "Lawd, Lawd!

"That's just my teamsters rollin' in."

So proclaims a song called Hoffa's Blues, on sale on records last week in the lobby of the Miami Beach Auditorium. Inside, the 1,845 delegates to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters convention indeed rolled in for President James Hoffa just about all that he could wish--with the possible exception of his tormentors' heads.

Yelling, stamping, cheering, the Teamsters elected Hoffa, 53, to a third five-year term. By acclamation, they gave him a $25,000 raise, to $100,000 a year. They voted--with just one local representative opposed--$1,277,000 in union funds for the legal defense of criminally indicted officers, notably Hoffa himself. They also voted an amendment to the union's constitution that creates a general vice-presidency and provides for automatic succession to the presidency. Then they unanimously elected Hoffa's choice for the post: chubby, cheerful Frank Fitzsimmons, 58, Hoffa's loyalist supporter among the union's international vice presidents and his protege of 30 years' standing.

Dead Putsches. The most amazing fact about the whole convention was that Jimmy Hoffa continued, despite everything, to exert his iron hold on the Teamsters. After all, Hoffa was convicted in 1964 for conspiracy and fraud in the handling of Teamster pension funds. That year he was also found guilty of attempting to suborn a jury in a 1962 trial in which he was accused of accepting a bribe from trucking operators. Hoffa was sentenced to 13 years in prison, remains free while the cases are under appeal.* He has been ostracized by the A.F.L.-C.I.O., been hit by Government investigations and prosecutions and by numerous revelations of abuses of the rank and file's rights.

There is; of course, sonic opposition to Hoffa within the Teamsters: a local Teamster official provided the crucial testimony at the jury tampering trial, and a group of Philadelphia members brought legal action in 1964 to prevent the use of union funds in Hoffa's legal defense, a move that has so far succeeded. For the most part, though, opposition to Hoffa is divided and weak. Potential putsches die aborning for lack of courage or of a rival leader strong enough to attract wide support.

Despite his brawler's background and pugnacious mien, Hoffa possesses Stalinesque talents for political maneuvering, deftly dividing adversaries and concentrating authority in his own hands. Fitzsimmons' election is symbolic of how Hoffa has retained power; it gives him a fighting chance to continue his rule, from behind bars if necessary.

Defensive Circle. Most of all, Hoffa has made the Teamsters prosperous and powerful in his ten years as union president--and they know and appreciate it. While the A.F.L.-C.l.O. has become sluggish, the Teamsters have expanded (to 1.7 million members, the nation's largest union group), enjoy steadily improving wages and benefits. One of the laudatory messages to the convention came from Tom Buckley of Maiden, Mass.: "I'm enjoying the Fourth with my family as a $200-a-week truck driver. Continued success and best wishes."

Old-fashioned trade-union psychology also works in Hoffa's favor. To many Teamsters, the Government is not a benevolent force seeking to protect the individual member from corrupt leadership, but a kind of cop who 30 years ago sided with the bosses and their scabs. The more attacks are launched on Hoffa, the more Teamsters tend to draw together in a defensive ring around him. Hoffa himself summed it up from the podium, when he cried: "To hell with all our enemies!" With a great roar, his men yelled their agreement.

* Hoffa's predecessor, Dave Beck, also had troubles with the law. He was paroled in 1964 after serving 30 months of a five-year sentence for filing a false union federal income tax return.

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